Valentine's Heartbreak
by Weekendwriter9
Summary: "They longed for each other, though they couldn't belong to each other" Written for the 2016 Dramione Love Mini Fest.


Prompt: "Heads, 8th year, Taking points", Squicks: dark elements

Summary: "They longed for each other, though they couldn't belong to each other"

Disclaimer: Harry Potter" is the property of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. This work of fiction/art was created entirely for fun, not for profit, and no copyright infringement is intended

Author's Notes: Hello my lovelies! First up, I'm sorry I haven't updated Muggles and Acquired Tastes (which we will refer to as MaAT from now) in a while, but real life has been taxing. I'm working on it, just bear with me. In the meanwhile, here's a little one-shot for y'all. I wrote it for the Dramione Love Mini Fest 2016. A big thank you for RZZMG for beta reading it for me and running such an amazing fest!

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Valentine's Heartbreak

Granger broke up with him on Valentines Day.

The irony wasn't lost on Draco.

He hurried up to the Head's office after dinner, per their custom. Not surprised to find her already there, he couldn't help but smile seeing her scribbling away like a madwoman on some essay.

He could feel the jewellery box shaped lump in his pocket.

He wasn't going to propose or anything, Gods no! They were just earrings. That didn't make gifting them to her any easier; romantic gestures just weren't their forte.

He closed the door behind him; the 'click' of it shutting got her attention. She stopped writing, but still didn't look up at him. Draco immediately felt weary; Granger was never one to avoid eye contact.

When she finally did look at him, her eyes didn't hold their usual brightness betraying her excitement at seeing him. They were carefully blank, worsening the churning feeling of dread at the bottom of his stomach.

"I think we should stop seeing each other Draco."

Her blank look was set in stone, unchanging.

He didn't know for how long, but all he could hear following her announcement was a loud buzzing in his ears. It was almost like she had reached out with her delicate hand, punched a hole in his chest and repeatedly squeezed his heart.

Feeling oddly vulnerable, he spat out the first words that came to mind, "Whatever. It's not like we're actually dating, Granger".

When her blank expression still hadn't shifted, he gave her his best sneer and walked out in true Malfoy fashion.

x-x-x

After the "incident" as he called it, Draco made it a point to avoid Granger. Instead of meeting with her in the Head's office, he corresponded by owl. And he was quite proud of himself for keeping his letters distantly polite. Not a drop of the resentment bubbling inside him had bled as ink onto the letters. The only time he really had to see her was in Potions.

He told himself it wasn't a big deal. He could sit in the same room as her for an hour without combusting. It's not like he was pining after her, or anything. Pfft!

The first lesson went without incident, thankfully.

However, walking to Potions on Friday, he saw Granger with her stupid Gryffindor chums in the corridor. She was laughing with her head thrown back and an arm around Weasley. Potter was doubled over in laughter and Weasley was fighting to keep a smile off his face. If it was a week ago, Draco would probably have stopped and smiled to himself. He may have never admitted it to her, but he'd always loved the sound of Granger's laughter. Cherished it even. Now, all he could feel was jealousy simmering in his veins. How dare Granger look so happy? And why did she have her arm around that moronic ginger?

"Thirty points from Gryffindor for public nuisance," he declared.

The laughter literally vanished from Granger's face.

With a disgusted scowl pasted on, Draco walked past them and into the classroom.

"Can we just kill him," he heard Weasley snarl, "then you could award us 100 points for public service".

x-x-x

Sick of feeling like he was missing an organ—that very important organ that pumped blood throughout his body—Draco decided something had to be done. When he walked into the Great Hall for dinner that night, his eyes sought out Granger of their own accord. He wasn't surprised to note that she was already looking at him. Draco looked away before any awkwardness ensued. He could feel Hermione's eyes on his every move as he talked to Blaise and laughed with Pansy throughout dinner.

Half an hour later, when most of the Hall had emptied, he could still feel her eyes on him.

x-x-x

At midnight he made his way into the Head's office. She was there. Even in the dim lighting, he could see how the stones in the earrings were a perfect match for the amber of her eyes.

"Granger" he greeted, swallowing down his discomfort. It felt like forever since he'd been alone with her.

"I got your note," she looked nervous.

"Obviously," he smirked.

"And the gift too."

At this he looked away uneasily.

She ploughed on in typical Granger fashion, "Why didn't you give it to me on Valentine's day?"

He scoffed. She actually needed to ask him that?

"Well," he fixed her with a mean smirk, "how could I gift it to my girlfriend when I no longer had a girlfriend?"

"Well," she countered right back with a nasty glare, "according to you 'it's not like we were actually dating'."

They glared at each other before she sighed tiredly, "Why now Draco?"

He looked at a candle behind her, "Why did you break up with me Granger?"

When the silence rang out for too long, he glanced down at her. "I asked you a question first. And look at me when you're talking to me."

"Yes mother," he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Ah, she'd adopted her trademark hands-on-hips pose now.

"Pretending there was never anything between us didn't help me get over you, Granger. Avoiding you didn't help me move on either. Then I realised that I didn't want to move on. Guessing from the fact that you're here, wearing those earrings, you don't either." He couldn't help the way his heart sped up when her eyes dropped to his collar with a tell-tale blush. "I believe you owe me an answer."

Her reluctant voice was embarrassed, "Harry and Ginny went on a double date with Ron and Lavender. All around the castle, couples were walking around holding hands and," she took a deep breath and wrung her hands, "and I want that. I was…I am so sick of keeping this-" she gestured to the space between them, "-a secret. Of keeping it confined to this room."

"You're the one who suggested keeping us a secret", he reminded her, his tone bitter.

"I know that!" she glared at him fiercely. "But don't you dare make it all sound like my fault. Yes, I was scared of my friends' reactions, but more than that I was scared of the hell that would break loose when your parents found out. Admit it Draco, you don't see a future for us."

His gaze never faltered from hers as he pulled out a letter from his robe, "I wrote to Mother yesterday, Granger. Told her I was seeing someone. This feisty Muggle-born witch who's practically glued to Potter and voluntarily spends time with Weasleys."

Her eyes narrowed at the dig at her friends.

"This girl who I love regardless of all that."

He saw the almost comical widening of her eyes and heard her sharp intake of breath.

"This letter contains her blessings. She'll handle father."

"You love me?"

"I just said I did, didn't' I?"

For a heartbeat of their brushed fingertips he swore everything stopped as he heard her whispered reply to his confession.

Then, his heart nearly leapt out of his chest in happiness.

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Author's Notes:

So...what do you think? Leave me some love aka reviews. I do admit, I didn't really plan this story through. Just kind of went with it. In saying that, I do kind of like how it turned out.

Also I guess this is slightly AU since I'm pretending the war didn't happen. However, there is still the issue of blood purity as can be seen with Hermione's concern of Draco's family not accepting them. I've always found this idea of a secret relationship quite interesting. To me, Draco and Hermione are both quite headstrong and proud, and having to maintain a secret relationship would just end up backfiring on them and result in hurt prides. Which is kind of the idea I've explored in this story.

P.S. Stay tuned for a MaAT update soon.


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